Global defense news, analysis and opinion

Mali: At least 18 UN peacekeepers, 2 civilians injured in Tessalit mortar attack

At least 18 U.N. peacekeepers and two civilians were wounded in a mortar attack on a military base in Tessalit in Mali's desert north

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Nigeria soldiers killed in clashes around Monguno, key garrison town near Lake Chad

Three soldiers were killed in intense fighting between Nigeria's army and Islamist insurgents around Monguno, a key garrison town in the Lake Chad area

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Car bomb explodes near Somalia’s parliament

At least four people were killed and 10 wounded when a car bomb exploded close to a checkpoint near Somalia's parliament in Mogadishu on Wednesday

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Iran fires ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops

Iran fired missiles at Iraqi bases housing the US forces in revenge for the US killing of IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani

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France upgrades small arms with Glock pistols, SCAR precision rifle procurements

France's military is replacing its pistols with the Glock 17 and replacing the FR F2 with a 7.62 mm, 20-inch barrel variant of FN Herstal's SCAR precision rifle

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Counter-ISIS Coalition countries temporarily withdrawing personnel from Iraq

Members of the US-led Coalition against ISIS are pulling troops from Iraq as training of both the Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga are paused

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Iran designates US military ‘terrorists’ over Soleimani killing

Iran has designated the U.S. armed forces a terrorist group over the killing of top commander General Qassem Soleimani. Iran’s lawmakers on Tuesday, January 7 unanimously approved the bill to designate the U.S. Army and Department of Defense as terrorist organizations, Tasnim news reported. The bill designates U.S. forces, Pentagon employees, affiliated organizations, and those who ordered Soleimani’s death, AFP reported. Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force – the IRGC’s external operations arm – was killed last week in a U.S. drone strike outside Baghdad International Airport. Killed with him was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head of the Kataib Hezbollah group and de facto commander of Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi militias. In April the Trump administration designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, the first such designation of a state’s armed forces. The U.S. designated the Quds Force a foreign terrorist organization a decade ago. Also on Tuesday, Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said 13 “revenge” scenarios had been drafted in response to the Soleimani’s killing. Soleimani was to be buried in his hometown of Kerman on Tuesday. The general’s killing has sparked a new crisis in the region, with Iran and its surrogate forces vowing revenge on …

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At least 9 killed in Gamboru bridge bomb blast on Nigeria-Cameroon border

An explosion ripped through a crowded market on a bridge at Gamboru on Nigeria's border with Cameroon, killing at least 9 people and injuring 26

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Libya: Haftar’s LNA captures Sirte as UN envoy expresses anger at foreign meddling

LNA forces loyal to rogue Libyan general Khalifa Haftar seized control the coastal city of Sirte as Turkey said it was deploying troops in the country

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‘Draft’ letter saying US forces to leave Iraq was sent by ‘mistake,’ Milley says

Troops from US-led Coalition against ISIS are preparing to leave Iraq in the wake of an airstrike that killed an Iranian general and Iraqi militia commander

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